CriticalDance Forum

<B>basheva posted</B> in <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000117-2.html:" TARGET=_blank>http://www.criticaldance.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000117-2.html:</A> <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I would like to see a definitive (if such a thing is possible) bio of Fonteyn. It would be a great companion book to her autobiography.<P>It was quite a story of her and her husband and what happened to them - would make a great ballet actually. Who would dance Fonteyn? Hey that's a great idea for a new<BR>thread.<P>Who would dance Fonteyn in a ballet about her life?...I am not sure there is anyone dancing today with that special splash of sweetness in her dancing. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><B>HelenB responded</B>:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I believe a definitive biography of Fonteyn is being written, but not due until next year, or even 2002. The Alastair Macaulay one is good, but very short.<P>I'd thought her life would make a very good ballet. You could have some good Panamanian carnival scenes - nice costumes - and Rudolf would come into it. Both Constant Lambert and Tito Arias would be hard to cast, as they were both fat, but Fonteyn would be impossible to cast. No-one could possibly measure up. It would make a good film, too. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

helen, do you know who is writing that book?<P>re casting a fonteyn dancer: if it was ten years ago i would have said ravenna tucker (RB) but they dispensed with her.....sad to say. around the same time, nicola katrak (SWRB) seemed to be being pushed forward to be seen in that mould, though i personally could not see it, really, as sweet a dancer as she was.<P>now i could imagine viviana durante in such a role, to some extent...but i belive that RB's sarah wildor (who i have never seen) is viewed as a modern day fonteyn... perhaps stuart or tuk could comment on that? (please don't jump on me, for suggesting she is anyone/anything other than her unique self - but we are trying to cast a movie here!)....<P>

It might be more possible to cast Nureyev - we would need a Russian - for the "soul" and flaring nostrils - as Dame Ninette De Valois described him - "the boy with the flaring nostrils".<P>The last time I saw Nureyev - he was with his own company. There was a male dancer in that company that truly resembled him, but I don't recall his name. I would have to get the Diane Solway book again from the library I think he is mentioned in there, with a picture too.

I don't know if Sarah Wildor is exactly viewed as a modern Fonteyn, but she is certainly a lovely dancer and my favourite of the current lot - but she is blonde.<P>No, I don't know who is writing the biography. I think Keith Money was going to do it, but I heard he decided not to. All hearsay, though, and others will probably know more.<p>[This message has been edited by HelenB (edited November 02, 2000).]

well thanks, helenB, about wildor. i know i saw words to this effect from mary clarke early on, but in regard to exactly what quality, or what role, i've no recollection. and she doesn't look like fonteyn - you're right there, so not sure what i'm actually meaning by that reference...<P>alina cojacaru, who i have also never seen, was given the fonteyn role in symphonic, i believe...would YOU cast HER as fonteyn, helen? or am i guessing wrong again? <P>

If I were doing a ballet now, about Fonteyn when young, I might cast Alina Cojocaru, because she looks almost right (from a distance anyway) and does have some of the sweetness and musicality. But she's only about 20, if that, so she'd have trouble with the later years. Maybe we could do it in episodes, like a soap opera, with a new episode every 5 years or so, as Alina grows older! Not practical, really. Her (presumably) Romanian accent would be a problem in a film.<P>I don't think Viviana would be right - a bit too sharp, somehow. I knew it was impossible!

Hmmm...if Hollywood were doing this, they would probably cast Tom Cruise and Winona Ryder........

The only one I can think of that would be "close" to a Fonteyn image would be ABT Principal Cynthia Harvey. But, I am not sure she is still dancing - I kind of lost track of her.

Harvey is retired and living in England.

no no - not cynthia harvey. a lovely dancer, but not at all my idea of a stand-in for fonteyn - too different in her dancing, and her shape....sorry, basheva! btw, harvey bought fonteyn's little car, or rather, i believe her sports-car-driver husband purchased it for her, as a gift. helenB - i would think someone would do the dancing, but someone else might have to act the role/do the dialogue...i understand the differentiation in dance style that you are making between durante and fonteyn, but i had in mind some acting going on....(!), i.e. that any dancer would need to alter their style in a studied way, to approximate some of the movement qualities one would need for such a role. i still think ravenna tucker would have been a good one!

Well, Harvey is out anyway since she is retired. <P> Maybe an actress for Fonteyn - and clips of the REAL Fonteyn dancing!! That would solve the problem. I think what we are saying here is that her style is inimitable.<P>

What if we put Alessandra Ferri in steel~shanked shoes? (it would only work from a distance)

From the way she looks, especially last night n 'Symphonic Variations' and the quality of her dancing, especially in 'Ondine' it has to be Tamara Rojo.